


mistakes like this

by hanbinz



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, but they are good people i swear, college au but college is mentioned about 3 times, dont worry i didn't make twice token love interests, junhui and minghao are a bit of a trainwreck, they're all sorta stoners too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:55:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23835745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanbinz/pseuds/hanbinz
Summary: 'things were simply confusing. a wildly painted abstract piece of fuck-ups and unsaid words that junhui wished he had done a better job of creating'.-minghao has a girlfriend. junhui's emotional range is lacking.cue their attempt at making something out of their mess.
Relationships: Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> hi,  
> this happens to be my first fic! i've been writing this for a while and i decided if i didn't upload it now then i might not ever do it... i may be a coward... but here it is!  
> i will be uploading chapter-by-chapter as the work is practically completed by now.  
> i hope somebody finds enjoyment in my writing.

***

_I wanna know all the dreams that you keep beneath_   
_I want the words that you whisper when I'm asleep_   
_Wanna give back the things that I plan to take_   
_And I hope that you won't care_

_— Prelow, "Mistakes Like This"_

***

Junhui’s life was boring.

That was really the only way it could be described. Every day the walls in his apartment appeared to be the slightest bit greyer, as if his pessimism was doubling as decor. Had someone told him university would consist of snarky chauvinists and mind-numbing subjects, he’d have never left his hometown. Instead, he found himself living in a city where stars weren’t visible, being driven up the wall by his somewhat irritating roommate.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like Seokmin. He really did. But liking someone doesn’t mean you’re thrilled to find their dirty socks on the bathroom floor or cherish the fact that they never put the milk back in the fridge. An occasional slip up would have been understandable, after all, he’s only human. However, twenty-three wasted bottles of milk tends to be where Junhui draws the line. On top of that, Seokmin’s kind of loud.

Seokmin doesn’t take Junhui’s brewing annoyance personally. No matter how many times Junhui runs his throat dry in frustration with the man, his socks are always on the floor again within twenty-four hours. It doesn’t help that Junhui is about as intimidating as a hand towel, on top of the fact that he is physically unable to hold a grudge against the other man. He often feels like life’s dealt him an unfair hand.

“Party tonight” Seokmin places a glass of water onto Junhui’s computer desk. “You know you’d probably do good with some human contact. Since your little League of Warriors buddies don’t count.”

“Legends.”

“Huh?”

“League of Legends.” Junhui corrected.

“Right… So that’s a yes?” Seokmin grinned, making Junhui cringe at his attempt to be charming.

“I have nothing to wear.” It wasn’t a lie. His last clean shirt was currently attached to him, while the rest were collected in a pile on the floor behind him.

Seokmin’s eyes lit up in a way that made Jun regret his choice of excuse. “It’s a costume party.”

Of course it was a costume party.

Junhui sighed in defeat upon hearing the words, given the state of Seokmin’s costume collection. The man was a Halloween fanatic. This went hand in hand with his willingness to be entertaining at the expense of his dignity.

“I’m going to assume that ten seconds of silence was you failing to come up with another excuse?” Seokmin was still grinning. Junhui was not. “We’ll be home by midnight.” He throws in, in attempt to further convince Junhui.

“Fine.” Junhui retorted, watching a pleased Seokmin exit his room slyly.

_I won’t be able to play tonight guys, roomie is dragging me to a fucking party_ he sends to his discord server before shutting down his computer.

Junhui: 0. Seokmin: 1.

***

At some point in his life, Junhui had discovered that he was an extremely independent person. Despite having to live solely off of noodle cups due to his inability to cook, he was independent in the sense that he didn’t need human contact. Initially this independence had begun when he had first left home, short instances of time where he’d shut himself in his bedroom absentmindedly. However, his isolation had now grown to the point where he was able to forget the existence of his own mother for weeks at a time.

“I miss you.” Someone would confess.

“I miss you too.” Junhui would lie in response, like a courtesy of some sort.

_How can I miss you?_ He’d mentally question. _I don’t even think about you until we’re physically contacting one another._

It wasn’t that he didn’t value his loved ones—all two of them— it’s just he didn’t feel an inclination to constantly keep contact. He’d obviously talk to Seokmin in person, given they lived together. But as soon as Seokmin left the house, his existence miraculously vanished from Junhui’s mind. That would be until Junhui tripped over a pair of his running shoes, which happened a lot.

His mother would call him every now and again, scolding him for being so lazy. He’d apologise, telling her it wouldn’t happen again. Then, his feelings of guilt would override him until he hung up the phone, practically erasing his mother from his mind until she called to scold him next.

That was just how it was with Junhui.

***

“I’m not dressing as Lilo.” Junhui rifled through the costume box (yes, Seokmin had a costume box), attempting to find the least embarrassing outfit in the vicinity.

Junhui’s known Seokmin a total of seven years, and in those seven years, he had learnt a lot about the guy. The current overwhelming thing being that Seokmin loves costumes. This isn’t ever a surprise to anyone, as everyone knows that Seokmin will do anything to make people laugh. Even if that means chugging tequila on a pool floatie while dressed as Coraline, at his family Christmas party. His grandma was concerningly chill about that one.

“But I want to be Stitch.” Junhui could tell by his voice that Seokmin was pouting, like the absolute child that he was. He tended to give in to him every single time, except in cases where his personal image was likely to be tarnished (e.g. showing up to a college party dressed as Lilo.)

“Then be Stitch,” Jun pulled a stormtrooper head out of the box, before hastily putting it back in. “But don’t drag me into it.”

“Fine.” Seokmin sighed, before letting out a melodramatic gasp. “This is perfect for you!”

Junhui tore his eyes away from the disaster pile in front of them to see Seokmin holding a police officer outfit. It looked exactly like the official Korean police uniform, which left Junhui wondering the exact legalities behind wearing it.

“No.”

“What do you mean no?” Seokmin threw the outfit at him, “It’s that or… this.” He held up a Pennywise the Clown costume, knowing damn well that he had Junhui stuck in a lose-lose situation.

Officer Junhui it was.

“Whose party is it anyway?” Junhui started getting changed right in the middle of the room. Seven years of friendship meant that this was the norm for the pair of them.

“Seungcheol.” Seokmin whipped his head around and smiled, “You look great!”

“Choi Seungcheol?” Junhui ignored his compliment.

“Yes. The only Seungcheol we know.”

Choi Seungcheol was an interesting character, to say the least. Nobody could name more than ten facts about the guy’s life, yet somehow almost everyone entrusted him with their sacred information. On top of that, you’d be hard pressed to find him without a joint, blunt or bong in his hand. He was what one would call a stoner. Junhui can recall having one conversation with him ever. Regardless, he kind of liked him.

“You owe me for this, you know.” Junhui pulled out his phone, nine o’clock already.

“I know, I know. Now help me pick a costume before the party finishes.”

***

As expected, the party was somewhat of a disaster without about fifteen minutes of arriving.

Seokmin had made the genius suggestion to each skull an entire cup of Smirnoff, meaning that both of them were practically on other planes of existence by the time they stumbled through the front door. They’d somehow made it to Seungcheol’s house without being run over, which was a miracle in of itself.

Junhui quickly realised upon arrival that he had made the rookie mistake of attending a party where he only knows the host, and one other person. In this case, the one other person was a raging extrovert who felt the need to socialise with absolutely anything with working ears. Despite this having happened multiple times at the few parties he had attended, Junhui somehow let it happen again.

The first hour of the party he spent with Seokmin, the pair of them laughing at absolutely nothing on the couch, all while trying to hold down the hot dogs they’d eaten previously. However, Seokmin was soon to sober up and keen to regain his title as the most annoying person in the room. So, it wasn’t long before Junhui was left talking to Seungcheol and his posse.

“You study law right?” Seungcheol asked, yelling over the overbearing music. He was dressed as some Michael Cera character that Junhui’s drunk mind couldn’t quite recall.

“Yeah.” Junhui yelled back.

Seungcheol was leaning back on the couch, grasping an acrylic bong in one hand and a lighter in the other. At some point in time his mouth continued moving, however Junhui was unable to distinguish whether sound was coming out of it or not.

It wasn’t until Junhui felt his eyes begin rolling slowly that he realised he had probably been drinking way too much, way too fast.

“You okay dude?” A guy dressed as Spider-man patted him on the arm. “Cheol, he looks pretty done for.”

Seungcheol scanned the room for Seokmin quickly, before giving up. “Okay. Bathroom trip. If we’re going to get evicted over something it is not going to be ruined carpet.”

Suddenly unable to control his own body, Junhui found himself being dragged to the bathroom by Seungcheol and Spider-man. As if it was clockwork, just as Junhui was lifted above the toilet bowl, the contents of his stomach emptied into the toilet.

It wasn’t until he heard Seungcheol start laughing hysterically did he realise that he’d missed the toilet completely. The remnants of the hotdogs were littered all across the floor, parts had hit the wall and even Seungcheol’s left shoe had been caught in the crossfire.

“Oh god.” Junhui wiped his mouth on his sleeve, mortified with what he’d just done. “I am so fucking sorry.”

“What did Seokmin give you man?” Seungcheol said through laughs, clutching at his sides. Junhui had never seen anyone so happy after having their house and person throw up on.

“Just vodka.” Junhui admitted, smiling sheepishly to hide how mortified he truly was.

“See this is why you need to get out of the house more often,” Seungcheol patted him on the back. “Seriously man, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Junhui was too drunk to take note of the fact that Seungcheol knew he never left the house, meaning that his status as a loser was most likely a topic of conversation.

“I’ll clean this up.” Jun walked over to the sink, washing his hands. In the reflection of the mirror he could see Spider-man begin to laugh at the situation, grabbing onto Seungcheol’s waist.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you cleaning if you’re feeling lightheaded.” Junhui didn’t know Seungcheol cared enough to even consider that fact. Perhaps he just didn’t want to trip over Junhui’s dead body when he came to take a piss the next morning.

“Of course!” Junhui faked a little too enthusiastically, unrolling toilet paper from the roll. He would almost be concerned about those two words being the most excited he’s sounded in a solid year, had he not just created a hotdog smoothie on Seungcheol’s floor.

“I’ll go find Seokmin.” Seungcheol nodded at Junhui, shutting the door before he had time to comprehend a response.

Not that he would have responded.

***

Just because Junhui didn’t like being around people, didn’t mean he didn’t want to impress people. Although Junhui found everything about himself extremely unimpressive, vomiting on someone’s bathroom floor had to be a new low. To be fair, Seungcheol’s bathroom looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since the cold war, so technically Junhui was probably doing him a favour. Spring cleaning of sorts.

Regardless, that didn’t mean the act hadn’t tainted his sense of pride.

Once he’d lapped most of the mess up with toilet paper, he opted to finding a cloth, mop or anything that would eradicate the smell. The fact that Junhui himself was getting nauseous meant that the smell must have been bad. He rifled through Seungcheol’s bathroom cabinet— luckily only coming across one pack of condoms in the process— grabbing the first thing that resembled a cloth and bathroom spray (he later realised he’d grabbed window spray).

Upon closing the cabinet, he glanced at himself in the mirror and did a double take, because _holy shit_ did he look wrecked. His undereye bags were so big that they wouldn’t be permitted on an airplane. On top of that, his eyeballs were redder than his lips, despite the fact he’d spent half the night downing raspberry vodkas. However, he mustn’t have been looking _that_ bad, or at least mustn’t have the entire night, because he’d copped the ‘arrest me officer’ line from at least four chicks. Maybe it was five? He couldn’t remember.

He’d blown them off, in true Junhui fashion.

As he grew older, Junhui was aware of his inability to feel, to put it bluntly. It wasn’t that he didn’t think half the girls who batted their eyelids at him were pretty, he just couldn’t bring himself to care enough to even try maintaining a conversation with them.

At the current point in time, Junhui truly thought his life could not have gotten more depressing. Sure, he’d gotten into law school. Brilliant, his parents at least have something to be proud of him for. That was something he’d never provided them with. Except law school _fucking sucked_ — the people, the workload and everything in between. Not to mention his landlord threatened to evict him and Seokmin every fortnight, for the fact their rent is late due to their tight budgets.

Neither of them had a dollar to their name, or a backup plan, should they be evicted. So the stress of the situation took a toll, even if it was miniscule. He was a realist, for sure, but he never anticipated quite how dull his life would be post-school.

Living off of mac and cheese was fun for the first four days of his University life, until Junhui’s stomach started feeling like it had taken a baseball bat to it every time he consumed anything. Somehow, Seokmin was blessed with a stomach of steel, so while Junhui ate salad for dinner the majority of the time, Seokmin stuck to the mac and cheese route. Occasionally, Junhui would opt for chicken noodles if he felt like a break from all the lettuce.

Life couldn’t have possibly seemed more depressing in his mind. That was, until his current state of being. Slumped against a bathtub in a room filled with your own vomit was about as depressing as it could get.

This was how he was spending his holidays.

Seungcheol had yet to return. Junhui realised that him and whoever donned the Spider-man outfit were probably hooking up, given the air in the bathroom when all three of them together.

He may have been a bachelor, but he wasn’t an idiot. He buried his head in his hands, trying to regain enough will to continue undoing the mess he’d made.

Sulking, that was what he was doing. Twenty one years old and sulking on an acquaintances bathroom floor. When you add in the fact that this was his first social event in months, things were fairly bleak in his life.

“Well this is a first.” A voice said, making Junhui’s head snap up at light speed. He was aware his eyes probably looked like a deer in the headlights, but to his defence, he hadn’t heard anyone come in the door.

The voice came from a black-haired boy, dressed as Shaggy from Scooby Doo. It was an extremely loose interpretation of the costume, given his lack of brown hair, but the tiny brown dog keychain attached to his belt loop gave it away.

Junhui quickly realised the situation the he was in. A stranger had just interrupted him having a breakdown on the floor of another person’s bathroom, while everyone else in the apartment was either fucking, fighting or having a good time. It seemed like he had a knack for embarrassing himself whenever he left the comfort of his desk at home. 

“Good to see Seungcheol making the most of his friends.” The boy piped up again, as Junhui hadn’t responded to the first statement.

“I threw up.” Junhui collected himself, pushing his body up to sit on the edge of the tub. To his surprise, the floor looked cleaner than he realised.

“I hadn’t noticed.” The boy eyed the floor, face pulled into a pained expression. Junhui realised that the smell was probably worse for someone who didn’t commit the act.

Junhui didn’t know how to respond, instead resorting to nodding to himself awkwardly.

“I’ve never seen anyone clean up their own vomit before, _at a party_.” He emphasised the last part, as if he genuinely found it hard to believe that someone would clean up after themselves. “Are you here alone?” He asked, when Junhui had once again not responded to the first statement.

This time Junhui hadn’t even processed a response, instead too busy on contemplating the lack of morality partygoers must have. They were either arrogant delinquents, or Junhui was a complete weirdo. Probably the latter.

“No uh- I’m with Seokmin.” Junhui could tell by the look on the boy’s face that he most definitely knew who Seokmin was.

“Oh, cool.” He nodded awkwardly, before Junhui realised he was making eyes at the toilet. Obviously, Junhui thought, what else would he be in the bathroom for?

“Did you need-”

“Yeah.”

Junhui nodded, brushing himself off once he was back on his feet. The bathroom floor was now cleaner than it was at the beginning of the night, and he had miraculously not spilled or thrown up anything on his ( _well_ , Seokmin’s) costume.

“Thanks” He heard the guy say, as Junhui pulled the door shut on his way out. Once again, Junhui elicited no response.

He manoeuvred his way through the corridor, now being capable of holding his own body weight up. Despite the Facebook event stating the party was to end at three, it was currently four thirty and it was as alive as ever. He could vaguely hear Seokmin’s voice in the distance, as well as some equally loud voices that were likely to be Seokmin’s friends. The man had a knack for befriending a chaotic bunch. Apart from Junhui, of course.

While searching for Seokmin throughout the house, Junhui saw Seungcheol and Spider-man exit one of the bedrooms together, confirming his intuition. He continued down the halls, the smell of weed growing increasingly stronger, until his eyes rested upon Seokmin hunched over a bong on the couch.

Junhui let out a sigh of exasperation. Seokmin was prone to doing stupid things, it was practically second nature. The drugs were the least of Junhui’s worries. Instead, his mind started racing with all of the possibilities of them getting attacked as he has to carry a blazed Seokmin home over his shoulder.

Jun!” Seokmin shouted, bringing Junhui back to reality. Each of his arms were wrapped around a girl and he smiled lazily, beckoning Junhui over.

Junhui walked over, accidentally knocking over a half empty can of beer along the way. Nobody seemed to notice, so Junhui just watched it spill on the hardwood floor. Someone would find it eventually, he guessed.

He felt slightly bad for not picking it up, however, apparently manners were non-existent at house parties.

“Please tell me you’re having fun.” Seokmin almost pleaded, neglecting one of the girls so that Junhui had room to sit on the couch next to him.

Junhui looked at the girl apologetically, before stealing the spot she’d been keeping warm. The girl sulked dramatically and stalked off.

“I’m fine.” He wasn’t sure how to answer the question in a way that was both honest and wouldn’t hurt Seokmin’s feelings.

“Just fine?” Seokmin held up the bong, “Want to try?”

Junhui carefully grabbed the bong from him and placed it on the coffee table in front of them. “No.”

Junhui had never tried marijuana before, and certainly didn’t plan on ever doing it at the same time as Seokmin. The two of them drunk is one this, weed is a whole other ballpark of terrible decision making. They would either end up dead or hospitalised.

Not from the actual drugs, just their stupidity.

“Alright... want me to find you a girl?” His eyes began scanning over the room, looking for someone he deemed adequate before his best friend could even answer the question.

“I’m fine, really.” He said, making Seokmin grumble something under his breath.

Junhui didn’t even bother asking what he said, instead deciding it was the perfect time to make an exit. It was already reaching five, and he didn’t plan on terrorising his sleep schedule any further.

Although he was on break, maintaining a routine sleep cycle was the only thing he was doing productively in his life. Should that be screwed up, he’d really have no motivation to do anything.

“You leaving?” Seungcheol asked, making Jun realise he had been sitting on the other couch, right across the room.

In fact, there were quite a few other people in the room, two of which being Spider-man and bathroom guy. Junhui’s drunk tunnel vision had apparently only let him focus on Seokmin for the past ten minutes.

“Yeah.” Junhui breathed out sheepishly, rubbing his hand behind his neck.

“You all good walking alone?” Seungcheol leaned forward, smiling lightly. Junhui wasn’t used to someone actually showing genuine concern. But that could be because he never gave anyone reason to, as he never did anything that required risk.

Junhui looked from Seungcheol over to Seokmin, his insides feeling crushed as Seokmin had his tongue down one of the girl’s throats. Of course he’d been abandoned.

It wasn’t the girl he had pushed off the couch. Instead, she had found some other replacement on the other side of the room.

He made a self-reminder to never accompany Seokmin to another party.

“Junhui?” Seungcheol asked again.

“Yeah. I’m all good.” He gave a tight-lipped smile, tearing his eyes away from Seokmin before walking out of the room as casually as possible.

As soon as he knew he was out of sight, he let his composure sink, walking in a way that represented how pissed he truly was. He planned all the ways he was going to murder Seokmin as he walked down the six flights of stairs that led to the ground floor.

The streets were dimly lit, making the neighbourhood appear even more sketchy than it already was. Seungcheol lived a block away from Junhui and Seokmin’s place, so the route wasn’t exactly a long one. Regardless, the crime map indicator ranked the suburb as number one for muggings and assault, meaning Junhui was keeping a decent pace as he walked.

He managed to make it home safely, by the grace of God. It would have made him sound like a better person if he had been worrying about Seokmin’s safety, but truthfully, he hadn’t thought about how Seokmin would get home.

Instead, he showered, pulled on a baggy t-shirt and fell asleep to the sound of the busy street coming through his opened window.

***

“Junhui.”

Junhui opened his eyes groggily, groaning when he was a smiling Seokmin five centimetres away from his face.

“I made it home.”

“What’s the time?” Junhui scrambled his hand across his bedside table, failing to find his phone.

“Midday.” Seokmin replied, ripping open Junhui’s blinds and temporarily blinding Junhui.

“Go away.” Junhui pulled his covers over his head.

Seokmin sighed, “Are you mad at me?”

“What?” Junhui ripped the covers off of himself. “Why would I be?”

“Last night-“

“You were drunk. And high. You weren’t being yourself.”

“Yeah b-“

“It’s fine Seokmin.” And it was fine. Junhui genuinely didn’t see the point in holding a grudge against his friend for doing stupid shit. If he did, he would permanently have a grudge.

“Hey, who was Spider-man last night?” Junhui asked, sitting up in bed.

Seokmin had taken a seat on Junhui’s computer chair and had taken to playing with his pop vinyls, “That would be Jeonghan.”

“Right… well I think he’s banging your friend.” He thought back to the two of them at the party, exiting the bedroom…

“What?”

“Seungcheol.”

“Jeonghan and Seungcheol…” He said aloud, more to himself than to Junhui. “That would explain a lot.”

Before Junhui could respond, he continued.

“The sleepovers... the pride flag in the middle of their living room...” Junhui had a vague flashback to the rainbow coloured blob his drunk vision saw on the wall last night, “The constant looks between them...”

“They could just be friends.” Junhui suggested. Although Seokmin had made three fairly reasonable points.

“You’re the one who said you thought they were banging.” Which was true. It had seemed fairly sketchy that they both left the bedroom at the same time, “What made you think they were... _banging_?”

The last word sounded terrible coming out of Seokmin’s mouth.

Junhui sighed, “I might be hopeless in the romance scheme of things; however, I think it’s safe to assume that two people are banging when they exit a bedroom together. Correct?”

It wasn’t until he had a normal conversation, did he realise how formally he spoke at times. He was two wrong turns away from becoming the type of men he despised. The type of guys at law school whom he made fun of for being such pompous assholes.

Who speaks that formally to their best friend?

“Yeah man, that’s pretty sketchy. Even by my standards.” He clapped his hands together, “Good for them.”

By sketchy he wasn’t alluding to the fact that they were both men, simply the fact they were sneaking around.

It was well established between the pair of them that neither Seokmin nor Junhui had any prejudice towards a particular group of people. They never had to have the conversation, they just knew that bigotry wasn’t something that either of them possessed. The rest of the people they knew were another story altogether.

Junhui spent the majority of his childhood utilising ‘gay’ as a weapon, an insult. In turn, as a child he obviously thought being straight was normal, and anything else was wrong. He wasn’t sure when the transition happened, however his mentality shifted to be one of complete acceptance. In terms of insults, it didn’t take a genius to find replacements for that one word.

“I heard you had a sausage party in the bathroom last night.” Seokmin egged him on, grinning at the innuendo.

“First of all, never say that sentence again.” Junhui almost choked the words out. “Secondly, Smirnoff was a bad idea.”

“Really? I’d blame the hotdogs. Next time we should try something a little more digestible.”

Junhui narrowed his eyes at Seokmin in disbelief. After all, the man had just suggested a next time, despite the disaster that had ensued the night prior.

“Speaking of next time-“

“Not going to happen.” Junhui exited his room swiftly, padding out into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of orange juice in hopes that the conversation would die.

It didn’t.

“ _Junnie_.” Seokmin knew exactly how to push every single button in Junhui’s body.

Jun grabbed his favourite mug— a cat one his mother bought him when she visited from China a couple of years ago— and turned around to see Seokmin blocking the fridge. Sulking was something he did regularly. Junhui had become extremely accustomed to his antics in the past eight months they had lived together.

“They want to hang out with you.” He opened the fridge from behind himself and passed Junhui the orange juice, as if it was some sort of gesture.

“They?” Junhui questioned. He had spoken to two people the entire night, one of which he’d thrown up on.

“Seungcheol, Jeonghan... the gang.”

Junhui poured his orange juice, silently contemplating the possible reasons as to why Seungcheol would want to spend another second around him. The answer he had come up with was simple; he pitied him.

“Seokmin, thank you. But I really don’t need you to do me any favours.”

“I’m not! I promise. They genuinely do want to hang out with you.”

“Why?” The question seemed reasonable. At what point in their two brief interactions had Seungcheol decided that Junhui seemed like an interesting enough person to hang out with?

“Why? I don’t know? Maybe he liked your costume.”

“Right...” Junhui knew that was a reach. There were at least two other police officers at the party, both with costumes that were superior over his own.

“Jun,” Seokmin sighed. “Do something selfless for once, yeah?”

Junhui knew he wasn’t the most selfless person on the planet, but it often took Seokmin’s drilling for him to realise he was being a selfish dick. He had numerous vague memories of primary school Seokmin lecturing him on why going to other kids’ birthday parties was important.

_“I don’t want to go.” Junhui would say._

_“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to go. They want you to be there, not everything is always about you.” Seokmin would respond._

Sometimes it scared Junhui how wise Seokmin could be if he actually tried. Although him being a drama major probably helped add to the dramatic effect of every lecture he spouted in Junhui’s direction.

“Fine.” Junhui huffed. “I’ll hang out.”

“Great! They want us there in an hour and a half.”

Before Junhui could take back what he’d just agreed to, Seokmin had already bounced off back to his bedroom. 

Junhui hated the guy at times, he really did. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 420

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not sure about this chapter length but ain't nobody reading dis shit anyway XD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somehow Junhui had managed to wash and dry a weeks’ worth of clothes in time, so that he didn’t smell like stale dust for Seungcheol and his friends. He’d opted for wearing a hoodie, given the fact Siri had told him there was a ninety percent chance of rain later in the day.

Seokmin was rugged up in a puffer jacket, clutching it to himself as they walked along the street. The sun was out, which was a bonus, however if Junhui squinted he could make out grey clouds in the distance overhead.

Neither of them talked the entire walk, a frequent occurrence for Junhui but a rarity for Seokmin. Junhui assumed it was Seokmin’s attempt to show gratitude for him actually tagging along for once. He knew how anxious Junhui got around strangers, especially when alcohol wasn’t in the equation.

Unfortunately, this just meant that Junhui’s mind was being filled with his own thoughts, most of which were negative. The primary thought being: what if they don’t like me?

Of course, not everyone was going to like him, Junhui’s got a personality that only certain types of people appreciate. But this felt different, it was Seokmin’s friends. Sadly most people don’t appreciate sarcasm and sardonic humour, therefore he was disliked by many. His expectations of coming out of this with new friends were low.

He was no longer as bold as his school days, when he spent more time in the principal’s office than he did in the classroom. Now he was more reclined, more insecure about what other people thought of him. He made sure to monitor the way he acted around others, careful not to step on anybody’s toes. Regardless, there are parts of your personality that you are unable to iron out with practice. Junhui’s awkwardness was such a trait.

“You’re quiet today.” Seokmin poked him in his side, making Junhui walk slightly off the path for a second.

“You’re normally the one who talks first.” It was true. Junhui basically never initiated conversation unless it was absolutely necessary.

“They’re going to like you.” Seokmin said, as if he’d read Junhui’s mind. If they hadn’t been friends for so long, he’d probably have been amazed by his perception. However, the pair knew each other like the back of their hands.

Junhui didn’t respond to Seokmin’s remark. Seokmin didn’t attempt to make any further conversation for the remainder of the walk.

***

“Hey!” Seungcheol greeted them enthusiastically. Junhui might have to get used to the ‘positive vibes’ movement he embodied.

“Hey.” He and Seokmin responded in unison, as they were both pulled into a hug.

Seungcheol opened the door wide enough to let them in, smiling at Junhui as he squeezed past into the apartment.

Now that it was daytime and he was sober, Junhui instantly noticed the pride flag that was hung (stapled? glued? blutacked?) to the wall above one of the couches. He was also faster in noticing the fact that once again, the apartment was filled with a ton of people, all of which were occupying the couches and available sitting space.

Seungcheol let out a laugh once he realised the situation, “If you want to sit on the floor-“

“The floor’s fine” Seokmin smiled, standing behind Junhui and pushing him into the living room lightly.

Junhui silently made his way over and sat down in front of the couch, where Jeonghan was sitting. Seokmin followed behind, sitting next to him. Junhui realised that this was for moral support, as there were three attractive women in the room that Seokmin definitely wanted to sit near. Instead, like a true friend, he stayed pinned to Junhui.

“In case you guys didn’t know, this is our new maid we were talking about.” Jeonghan pointed at Junhui teasingly, letting out a laugh. The room laughed in response.

It took Junhui about three seconds to realise that he was talking about him cleaning the bathroom the night prior. He felt himself start to blush in embarrassment.

“Yeah, thanks for cleaning the bathroom.” Seungcheol laughed. “You probably scrubbed off ten other vomits along with yours.”

Junhui cringed, “That’s fucking disgusting.”

Despite being mortified by this revelation, Junhui actually found himself laughing along with everyone in the room. Considering they were only a few sentences into a conversation, he considered this a small triumph.

“We told you not to worry about it!” Seungcheol argued, pointing his finger at Junhui accusingly.

“Yeah, well I wasn’t raised in a barn.” Junhui shot back, making Jeonghan burst out laughing.

Seungcheol laughed as well, eyes glinting slightly as he looked over at Jeonghan. Junhui’s intuition was definitely right.

Rather than just sitting around picking holes in each other, the group decided to watch a movie together. Somehow, they’d ended up settling on an Adam Sandler movie. Junhui assumed it was more of an ironic movie, as Seungcheol seemed like he actually had reasonable taste, judging by the Trainspotting poster that was staring back at him from across the room.

He’d gotten bored about ten minutes into the movie but decided to pretend to be interested out of politeness. Despite being somewhat of an asshole at times, Junhui’s etiquette was half decent. Or so he liked to think.

“Bong time.” Seungcheol had said, at some point in the movie where Sandler’s character had his tongue down a woman’s throat.

Junhui panicked internally. Despite knowing a lot of things about a lot of things, how to smoke a bong was something he was not informed on.

He could probably name all of the different strains in the city, how much the drug itself costed & the mechanics of how a bong worked. But smoking the thing was a different thing entirely. In fact, he’d never tried the drug at all. Or any drugs for that matter. There hadn’t been a time in his life where it felt necessary.

“No stress, if you don’t want to.” Seungcheol added, looking at Junhui while saying so.

“I’ll try.” Junhui felt like his fight or flight instinct had let the words come out of his mouth.

It didn’t seem like an awful idea, given that he was in a room full of experienced people. Plus, he just wanted to try something new for once. He mightn’t have the opportunity again.

“Have you smoked before?” Jeonghan grabbed his shoulders, peeking his head over the top of Junhui’s to look down at him.

Junhui shook his head.

He wasn’t sure why it was slightly embarrassing for him to admit that. He was twenty, came from a conservative family and never had the opportunity to do so as a child. Regardless, he felt his face turn a touch pinker at the admission.

“I wouldn’t start with the bong.” A girl piped up from the other side of the room. It was only now that he realised she had her arm around a guy who he recognised as the man from the awkward bathroom interaction. “It’ll rip his throat in half. Plus, if he’s prone to vomiting...”

So that was his legacy now.

“A joint would be easier.” Jeonghan looked at Seungcheol, waiting for him to agree.

“Okay, let’s roll him one without tobacco.” Seungcheol nodded, grabbing the rolling papers.

He watched as the man grabbed a nugget of weed from the Ziplock bag, before pressing it into what looked like a grinder. He then ground it until it was decently small and sprinkled it in a line across the paper. It was about two minutes later & a few licks later before Seungcheol placed the joint of the coffee table.

“You’ve smoked before? Cigarettes I mean.” He asked.

Junhui nodded.

In high school he went through a ‘phase’ where he’d steal his father’s cigarettes, only so he could feel like a badass when walking to school with one hanging out of his mouth. In hindsight, he looked like an idiot. But at the time, he felt like James Dean.

“Okay, well it’s basically the same concept. Make sure to inhale into your lungs deeply, or else you won’t get high and it’ll be a waste of time.” He explained, making sure Junhui was nodding along with everything he said. “I wouldn’t smoke the whole thing if I were you.”

Junhui blinked at him.

He’d assumed they’d rolled a suitable amount for him and him alone. Seokmin had a personal vendetta against joints, so he was unlikely to help him finish it.

“I’ll help him.” Junhui looked up to see the boy from the bathroom looking at him without expression. “If I have to smoke another bong today, I doubt I’ll ever be able to stand weed again.”

The boy got up, pinching the joint off of the table and exiting the room. Junhui hesitated first a few seconds, before proceeding to try and follow him.

He’d remembered seeing a patio the night before, so he followed the hallway and turned left until he found the glass door the led outside. From where he was standing, he could see the other boy sitting on the edge of the balcony, legs tossed over the edge.

Although he wasn’t a freak about safety, Junhui felt it wasn’t the best idea to do that whilst six floors above ground.

He opened the back door, awkwardly stepping out onto the balcony and closing the door behind him. The boy didn’t even flinch, instead keeping his eyes fixated on the cityscape visible in the distance.

“Did you want to go first.” Junhui almost flinched at his voice, despite it being one of the softest voices he’d ever heard. He just hadn’t expected it.

“No, you can.” Junhui wasn’t exactly sure how to go first.

“I’m Minghao, by the way.” He lit the joint, inhaling deeply.

“Jun.” He decided to opt for his nickname, as that was what practically everyone called him.

“Are you Chinese?” His eyes darted over to look at Junhui. He felt like he was under a microscope, that was, until Minghao looked away a few seconds later.

“Yeah. Wen Junhui.” Jun bit his lip. If he hadn’t been so nervous he would have instantly noticed that Minghao was also a Chinese name. Instead, it hit him a few seconds later. “You too?”

“Yeah. Xu Minghao.” Minghao replied, “Want to try?”

Junhui looked up to see him extending the joint towards him, waiting for a response. He should have said no. Everything within him hated the idea.

Instead, he nodded, taking the joint.

“Same concept as a cigarette.” He turned to face the city once again. “Make sure to inhale. That’s about it.”

Junhui held his lips up to the joint, inhaling for a good five seconds, before realising that he might have held for too long. He exhaled, coughing on the way out, before proceeding to hack up his lung in the least graceful way possible. Out the corner of his eye he could see Minghao cringing out of sympathy.

His coughing fit lasted a solid twenty seconds, before Minghao tossed him a bottle of iced tea that Junhui hadn’t noticed he was holding.

“Thanks.” Junhui choked out between coughs, sipping the liquid. A few sips later and his cough was completely gone, alongside the small amount of shame he had left.

He’d managed to absentmindedly drop the joint sometime during his coughing fit, meaning it had been extinguished as his lungs were calming down. If Minghao had noticed the discarded joint, he didn’t mention it.

“I’m surprised you didn’t vomit.” Minghao looked at him, with almost a playful look in his eyes.

“Funny.” Junhui shot back sarcastically, breaking eye contact.

From where they were, the view was actually quite nice. The sun was just beginning to set, meaning an orange line had cast itself across the sky, blending in with the blue perfectly. Despite only being six stories up, Seungcheol’s building had a clear view of the inner city, skyscrapers littering the horizon.

It didn’t take long before the effects of the drug started to take effect. Junhui found himself shifting backwards to lean against the wall, as his body kept tilting to the left as if one side was heavier than the other.

He didn’t notice a major change in behaviour, though he could tell he was in an altered state of consciousness at least. His head felt like it was buzzing, and his tongue tasted strangely sour. At some point, he’d taken his hoodie off due to overheating, leaving him in only jeans and a t-shirt. This might have been normal; had it not been freezing outside. Minghao looked at him as he tossed his jacket across the floor of the balcony, not saying anything.

“Are you at University?” Minghao asked, breaking the long span of silence.

“Law school, you?”

“Fine arts.” And it wasn’t until Junhui actually looked at this guy, did he realise that he could have figured that out on his own.

Not that he was one to judge a book by its cover, but Minghao looked like the embodiment of an artist. His frame was swallowed by a baggy hoodie—some expensive skate brand that Junhui owned a few items from. As if his vintage jeans weren’t edgy enough, they were covered in tiny drawings and doodles that Junhui assumed Minghao drew himself. His converse were the same, covered with multicoloured scribbles and words that Junhui couldn’t quite read from the other side of the balcony.

On top of that, he had a mullet. And a jet black one, at that.

Apparently those things didn’t die out in the eighties.

“Are you any good?” Junhui asked, unsure of how to continue the conversation. He was never any good at segways.

Minghao raised an eyebrow at him, “You can’t ask an artist that.”

“Why not?”

“If they say no, then they’re self-deprecating. If they say yes, they’re arrogant.”

Junhui let out a laugh at that, making Minghao look at him questionably, “Is that an unspoken rule or did you come up with it on your own?”

Minghao smiled tightly, as if he was concealing a laugh. Junhui noticed the way his eyes crinkled when he responded, “It’s just a thing.”

A thing, Junhui thought. One conversation with someone who was as vague and untalkative as him and suddenly he was beginning to understand why people asked him so many questions. It was almost intriguing to have to press someone for answers.

Neither of them made conversation after that, instead they decided to make the most of the silence the city was providing them with. From where he was, the city almost seemed nice to Junhui, like the way he’d thought it would be when he’d first moved.

Junhui wasn’t sure when he’d drifted off to sleep. He vaguely remembers the sun creeping dangerously towards the horizon, sinking below the cityscape. Apart from that, the dream he’d had about running away was all that filled his mind.

When he stirred awake, Minghao was no longer outside, and his hoodie that he’d previously discarded of was now wrapped around him loosely, providing him with some form of warmth in the freezing night air.

Seokmin was still camping on the floor when Junhui walked into the living room, eyes slightly puffy from the nap he’d just taken. Junhui had put his hoodie back on, as the cold had begun to hit him now that he was no longer under the influence.

“Enjoy your nap?” Seokmin laughed, looking at Junhui briefly before turning his eyes back to the television.

The group were watching another Adam Sandler movie, except this time Junhui recognised it as being Grown Ups. Minghao had returned to his spot on the couch, arm around the same girl it had been earlier in the day. Junhui still didn’t know her name, nor did he know anyone else in the room apart from Jeonghan, Seungcheol and now, Minghao.

Junhui didn’t answer, instead he quietly sat down in front of Jeonghan, as this was the only free square of space in the entire room. While he certainly wasn’t high, the aftershock of the drug left him feeling slightly lightheaded. The nap he’d taken probably hadn’t helped that fact.

The remainder of the movie was a slow blur; he’d never cared for shitty comedy movies. Even in his current state, they still failed to captivate him any more than they normally would.

It wasn’t until he and Seokmin had reached the road, did Junhui’s head start to feel slightly clearer. Questions of what they’d just experienced began to run through his mind.

“Who were the other people in the room?” Junhui piped up, once Seungcheol’s building was out of sight.

Seokmin kicked a stone along the path, “Wait, you didn’t introduce yourself?”

He sounded almost surprised, as if he wasn’t completely used to Junhui’s inability to communicate with people. Maybe he thought that Junhui was somewhat capable at times. In his defence, he’d had some form of a conversation with Minghao before he’d fallen asleep, so perhaps he wasn’t as incompetent as he made himself out to be.

“There wasn’t a right time.” And Seokmin scoffed at that.

“You really do overthink everything. God, well… there was obviously Seungcheol and Jeonghan, then there was Minghao-”

“I know Minghao.”

“Okay… then there was Minghao’s girlfriend, Kara,” Junhui assumed the girl on the couch must have been his girlfriend. “Who else? Oh, Chaeyoung, Mina and… Hansol. Hansol goes by Vernon depending on who you're talking to.”

Junhui let his mind wander as his head filled with the sound of cicadas. Now that he was actually outside, having some form of ‘fun’, city life felt almost liveable. He mentally punched himself for even thinking that, given it felt premature and dramatic. But in the back of his mind, Junhui was starting to see why Seokmin (and everyone else in his life) suggested social interaction.

Sure, he could live without it. But he could also live without coffee, or chocolate, or his beloved computer. That didn’t mean they didn’t make life easier.

“What did you think of Minghao?” Seokmin asked. The streetlights illuminated his face as he looked over at Junhui, smiling lightly.

“He’s nice.”

“That’s it?”

Junhui couldn’t really think of anything else to say. He wished he was able to give a five-star review of the guy to Seokmin, to ease his worries about Junhui making friends. But one conversation wasn’t exactly enough to develop an essay on how amazing of a person he probably was.

“We didn’t really say much.” Junhui admitted, hoping Seokmin wouldn’t blame Junhui for being socially inept.

“Yeah, he doesn’t really talk.” Junhui let out the tiniest sigh of relief upon hearing the words. For once, it wasn’t his entirely his fault. “He just does whatever Kara tells him to.”

Despite only being around him briefly, Junhui was surprised at this piece of information. He seemed to lax to be in such a controlling situation. But judging by Seokmin’s tone, it was probably true.

Seokmin continued, “It’s like he’s got Stockholm Syndrome.”

Junhui turned over to look at him and noticed Seokmin’s face was pulled into a frown—an expression he rarely wore. He decided not to ask about Minghao or Kara, or why they were a bad pair. He didn’t ask anything at all, despite a small part of his brain wanting answers.

Instead he let his feet drive him home, as his mind drifted off to think about all of the ways he could have been cooler just now.

***

A week had passed since the last group hangout and Junhui had practically not left his room the entire time.

Despite it still being holidays, he had multiple assignments, all of which he chose to leave until the last possible minute. This meant that in the span of a week, he managed to pull two all-nighters, drink forty-seven cups of coffee and had approximately seven stress breakdowns.

Seokmin had come into his room at least twice a day to check on him, often finding him asleep or lying in a ball on his bed contemplating his existence. He’d even done his washing, as Junhui refused to leave his humble abode. Whoever wrote Suits owed Junhui compensation for letting him believe that any aspect of law school was interesting.

It was in circumstances such as these that Junhui realised how lucky he was to have Seokmin. The appreciation would only last very temporarily, until he found another sock on the floor, but he truly did have moments where he was grateful for the man.

“Guess who is officially on holiday, assignment free.” Junhui flopped onto the couch next to Seokmin, resting his hands behind his head.

“Congratulations! You look like you’ve been hit by a bus.” Seokmin practically winced at Junhui’s appearance.

His reaction was understandable. Junhui caught a glimpse of himself in the bathroom earlier and he almost did a double take. He looked like the type of person someone would see and then proceed to cross to the other side of the road hastily.

“I feel great.” Junhui smiles, which made Seokmin look even more concerned.

“You remind me of my grandma,” Junhui knew where this was going, “Twelve years since she died... I miss her sometimes.”

“You should do stand up.”

The thing was, Junhui did feel great. He knew it was more of a euphoric feeling due to being in a complete other state of consciousness (he had done one year of psychology in high school and it provided him with a very small amount of useful knowledge on sleep deprivation). Nonetheless, he currently had an unfamiliar urge to actually do something with his life, and he’d be damned if Seokmin didn’t accompany him.

“Want to do something?” Junhui asked, making Seokmin look at him funnily.

“What?”

“You. Me. Do Something?” Junhui spouted as if he was speaking to a child.

“I don’t really want to play League of Legends.” Seokmin rolled his eyes.

“Neither do I.”

“So, you want to watch a movie?” Seokmin held up the remote.

“Something outside of the house.”

“Some-“ Seokmin coughed, “Outside? As in, out of the front door?”

Junhui narrowed his eyes.

“Let me grab my camera, this is one for the history books.” Seokmin joked, and at that, Junhui decided he’d had enough.

He launched across the couch and tackled Seokmin, struggling until his had him in a headlock.

“It costs nothing to not be a fucking prick, you know.” He ruffled Seokmin’s hair evilly, messing up the previously nice-looking style he had going on.

“Fuck- stop!” Seokmin swiped his hand in the air and hit Junhui in the face, smacking right into his nose.

Had it been any other person on the planet, this would have been a mere bump. However, with Junhui everything had its complications. In this case, Junhui was prone to excessive nosebleeds that were triggered by just about anything.

It took about three seconds before blood was gushing all over his front.

“Tissues!” Junhui shouted.

Seokmin scrambled to his feet, running across the room and throwing the tissue box at him. Junhui caught it, pulling tissues from it roughly and plugging his nostrils until the bleeding stopped.

“Sorry.” Junhui said, his voice nasally from being full of tissue.

He looked down at his shirt, groaning as what was once an image of a cat on roller skates was now a blood bath. He’d been meaning to toss the shirt away, it wasn’t likely to win him any points with anyone other than his mother.

“Do you actually want to do something today?” Seokmin started the coffee machine.

He held up a cup, a way of asking Junhui if he wanted any. Junhui shook his head. If he wanted to survive through the day without a heart attack, he’d have to avoid caffeine with his life.

“Yeah, any ideas?” Junhui asked, knowing all too well that Seokmin could find something fun to do in the middle of the ocean.

Sometimes his suggestions were concerning (let’s go hoverboarding on the ice rink a few blocks away!) but often he’d end up providing a fun time. Although Jun’s concept of fun was currently sitting within the realm of going to get ice cream and having a walk in the park.

“What about laser tag?” Seokmin suggested, pouring milk into his freshly brewed coffee. Junhui never understood why he did this, lukewarm coffee was one of the worst things in the world.

“Are you serious?” He didn’t hate the idea. In fact, laser tag was about the closest thing to real life gaming, so that was up his alley.

On top of that, what could be better than getting to shoot Seokmin?

“Why would I joke about the sacred sport of laser tag?” Seokmin took a sip of his coffee, “We could make it a competition.”

“Oh that’ll be fun. One versus one always gets the blood flowing.” Junhui shot back sarcastically.

“God you’re a dick sometimes. I meant, we could invite the others.”

By ‘the others’ he obviously meant Seungcheol and the gang. Junhui could picture it already, Seungcheol hotboxing the arena and all of the children accidentally getting high off of the second-hand smoke.

“If you think you can convince a single one of them to play laser tag, then I’m down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't forget to stream astro's comeback on may 4th ... may da 4th be with u !!!!


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